


anachronism

by orsumfenix



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 09:46:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7043083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orsumfenix/pseuds/orsumfenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A curse by Klarion sends some members of the team into Bart's past and their future, and the Bart from then is very different to the Bart from now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	anachronism

**Author's Note:**

> the bluepulse is from the current bart, not the one in the past  
> i don't know what i'm doing but i'm enjoying it

In front of Jaime, Klarion is cackling about something. To his left, Cassie, Tim and Gar are all getting ready to charge at him. On Jaime’s right, Bart is messing about with the cat.

He’s not sure how it came to this.

“Give up, _heroes_ ,” Klarion cackles – actually _cackles_ , as though they’re in some shitty TV show from the seventies. “How can you possibly hope to beat me, when you don’t know the slightest thing about me? Or, even, about each other?”

“Um, wrong,” Cassie interjects, fists held up. “We know we’re gonna kick your ass!”

Klarion tuts, which is odd. Jaime wonders what he’s even doing, being all villainous. He’s just a kid, right?

“Shouldn’t you be at school or something?” Jaime asks. From where he’s doing… _something_ with the cat, Bart lets out a laugh.

Klarion laughs again, grating on Jaime’s nerves.

“ _School?_ Well, I suppose at least _one_ of us should be learning things. Tell me – what do you know about each other, really?”

To Jaime’s surprise, it’s Tim that answers.

“We know that we can trust each other,” he informs, staring Klarion with an intensity that only Batman’s protégés have ever been able to message. “And that’s all that we need to know.”

“Is it? Are you _sure_?”

**[The Klarion is making a threat. Recommended tactic: destruction.]**

It’s not often that Jaime finds himself agreeing with the Scarab, but this is one such occasion. Mainly because Klarion is _really annoying_. Seriously, Jaime thought that spending five years in the company of Bart would be enough to immunise him, but apparently Klarion’s just _that_ bad.

“Okay, I’ve had enough,” Jaime says, raising his cannon. “I hope you’re ready.”

“Yeah!” Gar shouts, shifting into a lion. “Don’t mess with us!”

Klarion laughs for what must be the tenth time. It sends a shiver through Jaime; how can a kid’s laugh sound so menacing? It’s freaking him out.

“If you refuse to be told,” Klarion says, making no sense. “Then you will be shown.”

“Ohhh,” Bart suddenly says. Jaime shoots him a brief glance, which he hopes conveys what a weird thing to say that was. Bart jumps up and down on his heels, grinning like a maniac (as per usual). “I get what’s happening. Hey, Blue?”

“What?”

They’re about to charge, Jaime can sense. It’ll be a relief to finally get to attack that smug kid. Bart’s got pretty bad timing – but then again, doesn’t he always?

“Tell me to do it in reverse.”

Jaime frowns.

“What do you -?”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence, because suddenly he’s being engulfed by a blue light – not just him, but Cassie and Tim and Gar are all struck too. It’s coming from Klarion, Jaime can vaguely see, and the Scarab is shouting in his head and he can’t _breathe_ –

The world goes white, and when it comes back into focus, everything is grey.

Cassie is standing beside him, still with her fists raised to fight, looking equally as confused. A short distance away Tim and Gar are standing, looking around with bemused faces. Jaime doesn’t blame them. He’s not sure what’s going on, himself.

Neither Bart or Klarion is anywhere to be seen.

“Where -” Jaime begins, but then something is slamming into the back of his head, stars dancing across his vision. As he falls he manages to twist, and the last thing he sees before passing out is familiar green eyes and brown hair.

\--

**[Wake up, Jaime Reyes.]**

Jaime groans and cracks one eye open, immediately wishing he hadn’t. Man, his head _hurts_. He hopes whatever hit him didn’t hit Cassie, too.

“Oh. You’re awake.”

Jaime blinks, because _holy shit he knows that voice_.

Slowly, almost not believing himself, Jaime raises his head and sees none other than Bart Allen sitting in front of him, all skin and bones and narrowed eyes. Jaime blinks, because – it’s Bart but it’s _not_. Bart isn’t that small, or that…angry.

And the surrounding landscape shouldn’t be grey.

“Fuck,” Jaime says, because he knows _exactly_ where he is. Not-Bart snorts.

“Yeah, that about sums it up. Bet you weren’t expecting to get caught. Pretty moding, huh?”

Jaime blinks, trying to clear up the fog in his mind and belatedly realises that he’s tied up. The rope is digging into his arms – when did he take his armour off, anyway? – and there’s a warm presence at his back. One of the others, then; it’s probably Cassie.

He can’t see either Tim or Gar, but right now he’d kind of too distracted to properly look.

Because, _holy shit_ , Not-Bart looks _pissed_.

“How did you find this place?!” Not-Bart demands, tapping one of his hands on the floor faster than Jaime’s eyes can see. “What were you planning to do here? And, actually – who even _are_ you?!”

**[The Impulse is frightened.]**

“He doesn’t _look_ frightened,” Jaime mutters. Not-Bart’s eyes narrow even more.

“Who are you talking to?”

Jaime sighs.

“Myself. I…do that a lot.”

Not-Bart is silent for a moment, before he lets out a sharp laugh.

“Great. So you’re a psycho in more ways than one. Isn’t that just _crash_?”

Jaime frowns, recalling what the Scarab said and taking in Not-Bart’s body language. He’s all tensed up, looking horrifically close to baring his teeth and growling. But in his eyes, past the anger, Jaime can see that Khaji Da was _right_. Not-Bart is scared.

Fair enough.

“Okay, Bart,” Jaime begins. “You need to calm down.”

“Who’s Bart?” Not-Bart says without hesitation, hand still tapping like mad. Jaime resists the urge to grin. “My name’s Jim.”

“Okay, kudos to you for being a good liar, but your name is _not_ Jim. It’s Bart Allen. You’re the grandson of the Flash.”

Not-Bart’s hand stops tapping so abruptly Jaime’s vision spins, and it only takes a blink for him to have an angry speedster glaring straight into his eyes.

“Why did they send you here?!” Not-Bart demands, breath hot on Jaime’s face. “Was it so you could kidnap me? Take me back to the camps, get me just as moded as everyone else? Well, guess _what_! I’m not going. You can’t _make_ me. In fact, it looks like _I’m_ the one who’s got _you_ moded! What do you think the Reach would say to _that_ , huh?”

“Bart,” Jaime says, trying to look a lot calmer than he feels. “I’m not here for the Reach.”

Not-Bart is silent for several seconds, searching Jaime’s eyes, before he steps back.

“I don’t believe you,” he declares. Jaime breathes out harshly, frustration evident, but if he gets angry then he has no idea how Not-Bart will react.

The thing _is_ : normal Bart wouldn’t be doing any of this. Bart would probably just laugh at everything Jaime said and then let him out of the rope. Bart would’ve checked that Cassie was okay, and reassured Jaime that she was, instead of just sitting here and interrogating him.

But this is _Not-Bart_ , and he hasn’t spent five years in a past where it’s safe enough to do nice things like that.

“Is my friend okay?” Jaime asks, because Cassie hasn’t woken up yet and he’s starting to get worried. “It’s the blonde girl behind me, right? Is she alright?”

“She’s fine,” Not-Bart snaps, refusing to soften at Jaime’s worry. “It just took two strikes to knock her out, is all. But I didn’t _kill_ her. Though I still _could_ , if you don’t tell me who you are.”

**[It is unknown whether the Impulse would carry out this task. Recommended tactic: comply.** **]**

Jaime finds himself raising a brow. That’s the first time in years that the Scarab hasn’t told him to just destroy someone. So it _does_ care, after all.

“Okay, fine,” he says, noting how Not-Bart refuses to unclench his fists. “I’ll tell you.” Jaime takes a deep breath. “My name is Jaime Reyes. I’m from El Paso.”

Not-Bart frowns.

“The fuck is that?”

Hearing Not-Bart use the word ‘fuck’ is odd – not because Jaime’s never heard _his_ Bart use it, but because Not-Bart looks about twelve and is clearly trying to sound more intimidating than he actually is. Not that his failure to _look_ more dangerous means he _feels_ any less dangerous.

“It’s, um, a place,” Jaime answers, wincing internally. _Smooth_.

“Well, _that_ was both articulate _and_ enlightening,” Not-Bart snarks, tilting his head. His hair’s slightly longer than when he first got to the past. Did he cut it before going? Back in the present Bart has it long enough to put into a ponytail, which he often does. It’s cute. A lot cuter than Not-Bart’s rough edges and scruffy look.

Not that Jaime can blame him. Growing up in an apocalypse must be rough.

“What year is it?” Jaime finds himself asking, because surely it would help to know _just_ how far in Bart’s past Not-Bart is? “Like – 2056, or earlier?”

Nor-Bart’s eyes manage to get even narrower, and Jaime kind of hopes that this means he’ll figure it out – that Jaime is from the _past_ , that he _doesn’t_ work for the Reach, that he’s not here to _hurt_ anyone, for god’s sake…

“2055,” Not-Bart answers, strangely unquestioning. “I think.”

“And you’re…twelve?”

“Probably.”

“Right.”

Bart sits back down with a startling suddenness, resettling in his position of crossed legs and a hand tapping frantically against the floor.

“What’s your friend called?” he asks. Jaime blinks, but sees no reason to lie.

“Cassie.”

Bart jerks his head in to the left – when Jaime follows with his eyes, he can only see the ruins of Mt Justice, ash falling down around it.

“What about the other two? We’ve got them tied up, too. My – my _associate_ is interrogating them. He’s crash at stuff like that. They’ve probably already told him _all_ about this little mission you’ve been sent on.”

“Are you just trying to sound impressive?” slips out of Jaime’s mouth before he can stop it. Not-Bart flushes slightly, and when he looks like this it’s easy to remember that he’s just a _kid_.

“Look,” Not-Bart huffs, standing up again, slower this time. “You _clearly_ work for the Reach, and obviously all your little friends do, too. And I am _not_ going to _sit here_ and let you all drag me back to those stupid camps! I escaped to make a _difference_ , not to get another collar slapped on me. So if _you think_ that I won’t defend myself to my _last fucking breath_ , if _you think_ you can -”

“Getting a little carried away there, aren’t you?” a voice cuts in. Jaime and Not-Bart move their heads as one to see an older man in an orange jumpsuit standing there, smiling awkwardly.

Not-Bart blinks, then smiles slightly back.

“Hey, Nathaniel. Did you get the others to talk?”

‘Nathaniel’ – and, holy shit, is that _Nathaniel Tryon?_ – shakes his head.

“Sorry, neither of them will talk to me. I thought you might be able to convince them.”

It seems to take a second for that to sink in, before Not-Bart is widening his eyes and saying, “Ohmygoshyouleftthem _alone?!_ ” and zooming off, leaving a cloud of dust from the floor in his wake. Nathaniel watches him with a sad smile, before turning his attention to Jaime.

“Has she woken up yet?” Nathaniel asks. Jaime simply shakes his head.

**[The Impulse was lying. Neutron is wearing an inhibitor collar and is thus not a threat.]**

_Obviously_ , Jaime bites back. Nathaniel is settling down beside him.

“Don’t judge the kid too harshly,” he says. Jaime blinks.

“ _Qué_?”

“Bart can be a little… _intense_ , when you first meet him. But he’s a good kid, really. He’s had a tough life, is all.”

Jaime blinks.

“No offence, but, uh…why are you telling me this?”

Nathaniel twists his mouth, whole body slumping as he sighs. Jaime takes in his bald head, the scars, the way his jumpsuit is fraying at the edges, and thinks _mierda, the Reach really wrecked this planet, didn’t they?_

“Bart is – paranoid,” Nathaniel informs, looking awkward as he does so. “That’s not even a bad thing, for the most part. It probably saved his ass at least twice. Your friend – the, uh, green one – told me where you were from. I believe you. Problem is, Bart _won’t_. He’s angry and stressed and upset at all of you. With good reason, but, still…He might say some things that’ll get to you. But he’s got a good heart, really. So – cut him some slack, alright?”

Jaime takes a moment to digest all that. He’d known, of course, that Bart had been different before he got to the past. Parts of his old personality still show through, sometimes – little bouts of anger or a dark expression when he thinks no one’s looking.

But Not-Bart is still in that phase, still in the mind-set of everything being out to get him. And that includes Jaime.

Behind him, someone groans. It’s Cassie, stirring. Jaime feels a wave of relief sweep through him.

“Hey, Cass,” he says, prompting another, louder groan. Nathaniel is watching them both with an intense look – albeit, nowhere _near_ as intense as Not-Bart. “You okay?”

A pause, and then, “I think so. _Fuck_ , my _head_.”

**[Scanning...Aside from a slight head wound, the Wonder Girl is uninjured.** **]**

“Thank god,” Jaime breathes, allowing himself to relax. He hopes Not-Bart doesn’t show up out of nowhere and start interrogating Cassie, which is more likely to happen than he’s willing to admit. “Hey, Cassie? You’ll never guess where we are.”

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to come say hi on my [tumblr](http://orsumfenix.tumblr.com/)


End file.
